


The Christmas Chronicles: Adam Walker and the Christmas Factory

by Tabata



Series: Leoverse [149]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas, M/M, Santa's Elves, Sexy Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28942455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabata/pseuds/Tabata
Summary: December 23rd. Leo and Blaine pick Adam up and bring him to the Christmas Factory to see Cody. Their first meeting after months turns into the perfect occasion to explain Adam the complex nature of elves and also something about Leo's past.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Original Male Character(s), Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Series: Leoverse [149]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/30541
Kudos: 1





	The Christmas Chronicles: Adam Walker and the Christmas Factory

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNING:** This story is an **AU** from the original 'verse. What happens in here has little to none correlation with what happens in Leonard Karofsky-Hummel VS The world or Broken Heart Syndrome. The characters involved are (mostly) the same, but situations and relationships between them may be completely different.  
> This particular verse is not that complicated to explain. Basically, Blaine is Santa Claus - yes, that Santa Claus - and the boys are his elves. A couple of days before Christmas, Blaine goes missing during a test flight. So, Leo and Cody leave the North Pole to search for him in the real world, where they meet Adam, a boy they used to know and that stopped writing his letters to Santa a long time ago. Everything you know about Christmas is wrong, and we're gonna explain you why.
> 
> Written for:  
> Esploratori del Polyverso (Chapter 3, Mission 1)  
>  _prompt:_ AU
> 
> Maritombola #11  
>  _prompt:_ [This image](https://www.landedifandom.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/tombola11_38-300x200.jpg)

When the door slams open and a pile of fresh snow invades his living room, Adam thinks the snow storm the news have been talking about for weeks must have finally arrived. His mind instantly goes to his mother, working late even the night before Christmas Eve, and he wonders if she will be stuck at the hospital again. Maybe he will call her to make sure she's alright.

But he should know better, about both his mother and snow storms.

Angela Walker knows how to take care of herself. She raised him alone after his father died in combat before Adam turned five. She even got trapped under the debris after a very bad earthquake a few years ago. She came out unscathed and having saved four people while she was down there. She's afraid of no snow storm. And as far as snow storms are concerned, they don't just happen suddenly, especially not when it wasn't even snowing the moment before.

No, this is something different, which could either lead to a pleasant surprise or to the total disruption of his Christmas, and for some reason he's deadly sure that it's going to be the latter. And sure enough, when he looks at the door, two figures stand out against the deep black of the night sky. They are very similar in shape and size: slim and tall, with raven curly hair. Adam instantly looks for the third, smaller figure that's usually with them but this time it's nowhere to be found. He smiles anyway, ready to welcome them—

“Ah, so you _are_ here,” Leo walks in with the usual entitlement. Adam would like to point out that nobody invited him in, but the elf just walks on the pile of snow without leaving any trace at all and Adam gets distracted. Is he flying? Are his bones hollow? “We weren't sure.”

“You could have called.”

Leo shrugs and drops himself on the couch. “You know we don't have phones at the factory,” he says. And then he doesn't forget to add, “They are ugly pieces of ancient human technology we have no use for.”

“So you came here not knowing if I was home and you still kicked down the door?”

Blaine – Adam categorically refuses to call him Santa – laughs, squeezing his shoulder affectionately. “You have to excuse Leo's enthusiasm. You know how he gets when he's excited, and this is him being very excited.”

“About what?” Adam and Leo asks simultaneously.

Blaine decides to ignore them both and go on with the jolly attitude, which must be in his job description. Or maybe he's just naturally jolly and that is why he was chosen to be Santa Claus. Adam must inquiry. “We came today because we're going to be very busy tomorrow, it being Christmas and everything.”

Adam is rarely confused, but all the times he has been recently, it was because of these people. Now, for example, he can't for the life of him understand why they are here and Cody is not. “I don't think I follow you,” he says politely. “I mean, I'm happy to see you, but—“

“But where's the one I bed?” Leo butts in, grinning. “Oh don't look at me like that. I don't need to read mind, it was all over your face.”

Adam blushes. “I didn't mean that!” He squeaks. “I was just wondering why he didn't come with you.”

“He's busy,” Leo informs him, fishing some popcorn from the bowl on the coffee table. He makes a disgusted face and waves his hand over them, covering them in chocolate. They were supposed to go on the Christmas Tree, but apparently they won't. “He dedicates the last day before Christmas Eve to all the more perishable candies.”

“Oh.” Adam tries very hard not to sound too disappointed – both because he doesn't want Leo to mock him again and because he doesn't want to sound impolite – but he can't keep the sad frown out of his face. He was hoping to see Cody one of these days. He hasn't seen him in months, with him being busy with Christmas preparation since basically mid-August. It's not like they talk over the phone, so Adam always has to wait for him to show up at his house whenever he's allowed to, which is not often since both Blaine and Leo are extremely jealous of him.

“So,” Blaine drags him out of his own thoughts as he was spacing out, “we thought to pick you up ourselves.”

“Pick me up?”

“We thought you could use a little trip to the factory,” Blaine smiles at him. “See the preparations, see Cody...”

“But it's almost Christmas!” Adam says, confused.

Leo looks at him as he would look at someone really stupid, there's no mistaking the expression on his face, or his words fort hat matter. “Yes, that is pretty much the point, Adam. There's not much to see at the factory in April, except a bunch of elves smuggling Easter eggs for a quick high.”

“A what, now?”

“That's a story for another time, blondie,” Leo dismisses him. “So, do you wanna come or not?”

Adam hesitates. Of course he would love to go – he's been at the Christmas factory only once and it was a thrilling experience – and he would love to see Cody, but it's the holidays and his mum is probably going to be home for at least a couple of days. Or at least he hopes so. “It'd be nice, but—“

“If you're worried about your mother, you can stay with us tonight,” Blaine says with a smile, “and we can drop you off tomorrow night before we start our trip around the world. I usually start directly from home, but we can make an exception and still be on time. I trust Leo with the calculations.”

Leo rolls his eyes. “You always make promises and then I have to deal with the consequences.”

“But you always deliver, love,” Blaine leans in to give him a kiss, something that still makes Adam uncomfortable. “Because you're the best.”

“Of course I am.”

“She will know I'm not home, though.”

“Dude, are you even serious right now?” Leo stands up, bringing the bowl of chocolate popcorn with him. “We're offering you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the second time. This is not the time nor the place to turn into a mama's boy, don't you think?”

“I'm just saying—“

“She won't know,” Blaine reassures him. “We can work some absolutely safe magic on her. Come on, kid. Cody will be very disappointed with you and very angry with us if we go back without you.”

This is all the reason he needs to accept the invitation. The idea of disappointing Cody is way scarier than disappointing his own mother, which is a first for him, honestly. Besides, as long as the magic on his mom is harmless, why not?

*  
Last time Adam was at the Christmas Factory it was late spring. Snow wasn't exactly melting – that doesn't happen at the North Pole, especially not in the magic part of it – but the weather was somewhat milder and there were tiny little blue flowers, dotting the snow. The general spring feeling was also reflected inside the Factory too. Work had not exactly stopped, but it had slowed down and people were enjoying the good weather.

Today – one day away from The Night as Leo calls December 24th in a sarcastically ominous voice – the factory is in utter chaos. There are elves running everywhere, stumbling into things and into each other, and then cursing at one another because of that. Some of them are transporting presents, others candies, a few of them are inexplicably entangled in six feet of ribbon, and amidst all of them those tiny creatures – like elves, but way smaller – are rolling around, hanging for dear life to Christmas balls launched at incredible speed, all the while constantly mumbling in that silly language of theirs.

The moment they step out of the sleigh, they are surrounded by a small army of elves, all speaking at the same time and all, apparently, complaining about something. Adam can barely make out what the problems seem to be as they are literally pushed towards the factory by the rumbling crowd. He expects Blaine and Leo to be at least upset by the situation, but they seem to be doing just fine. Blaine is smiling to all the elves, no matter what they are saying – and some of them are being very inappropriate, if someone should ask Adam – and Leo is being Leo.

“Yes, I know we have to recalibrate the painting machine again,” he says, as they cross the entrance of the factory, which produces a light vibration. “I was the one telling you it needed to be done. No, I can't change Manufacturing's deadline. You want it done earlier, you go to speak to Matt yourself. Yeah, that's what I thought. Yes, we have enough chocolate—did you check the list twice? For candy's sake, checking lists twice is our basic rule. Have you ever heard the fudging song? Dude, give me a break, we discussed this, we can't change orders at the last minute. Best we can do is switch presents. Is there any other kid who wants a skateboard? I don't know, man, just check the registry, we don't keep it just because it's nice, you know? Alright, I'm going to stop answering questions now, if you have others, you send them to me via—Did I stutter?”

The last part he literally roars, scattering the tiny creatures everywhere. The elves just fall silent instantly. Then, they all nods and quietly move away, leaving them alone in the hall. Adam hadn't noticed how much noise they were making until they left. “Wow, that was something.”

“That was nothing,” Leo says, taking off his dark hoodie. Underneath he's wearing a red t-shirt that says _Santa's favorite Ho_. Adam opens his mouth to say something, but then he decides not to. Who knows what dark abyss a question on that piece of clothing could open underneath his feet. “Wait until they find out I'm going to change the route. There's going to be an insurrection.”

“Why? Don't you load the present on the sleigh and go? A change of route is more your problem than theirs, isn't it?”

“You make it sound so easy! I don't blame you, though. Its not your fault. Your simple human mind can't really come up with a more complex procedure unless it's prompted. Simply put, we can't possibly put the entire load of presents on the sleigh in one time. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of items, no sleigh, even magic ones, could sustain that kind of stress. So, what we do is, we divide the load into several small batches, and then teleport them – mind you, I'm using a word you can understand, but it's not teleportation at all – on the sleigh as we progressively move through the world. If I was here, I could easily handle it, but I won't be, because someone has to help Blaine during the trip, so they will have to. And while I'm good at improvising, let's say they are not as mentally flexible as I am. They usually want the route three months in advance, so a change so close to the deadline will not sit well with them.”

“Hasn't Cody been training to go with Blaine as well?” Adam asks, genuinely curious. “Could he go while you stay?”

Blaine bursts out in quite the forced laugh, and gently leads him a few steps away from Leo, whose eyes seems to flash red for a second. “Let's not go there,” he cackles, and then in a lower voice. “This is a sensible topic. I suggest you don't mention it ever again.”

Adam is okay with that. Leo is mostly annoying, but there are moments when he gives off creepy vibes, and this is definitely one of those moments. He's always angry, sexually charged and prone to violence. Basically the very definition of what a Christmas elf is not.

Blaine is about to say something else, but he gets interrupted by Matt coming down the hall. Matt is another elf who Adam is convinced is not elf at all. Matt is too tall, too gangly, too angular to truly be an elf of any kind. He seems to be made by a different hand compared to everyone else here. Adam would like to ask about him, but he's not so sure he should.

“Good thing you're back! Things are crazy 'round here,” Matt waves at them with his huge hand. “Nice to have ya back, Adam.”

Adam waves back at him. “Nice to see you too, man.”

“We've met the welcome committee. What's going on?” Leo presses him.

“Dunno nothin' 'bout that, but Mainframe is actin' up,” Matt explains, pointing vaguely at this back. “It's shuttin' down and startin' up random departments to the tune of _Jingle Bells_. Ma' mates goin' nuts. Ya need to go check on that.”

“I know whose fault is this,” Leo says, turning to Blaine. “It's those gnomes! They like to chew on the cables!”

“That's possible. I lost a bunch o' them two days ago, never found 'em,” Matt nods. “They could be in the trash compactor again, tough. It's been happenin'.”

“Isn't that, like, dangerous?” Adam can't help but ask.

“Nah, they be breedin' like rabbits.”

“I might have to kill someone tonight,” Leo declares. “I might have to push the limits of what we know about me and crack some skull open.”

“Now, let's not be dramatic, love,” Blaine sighs, pulling him into a hug and leaving a kiss on top of his head.

“'Nother thing,” Matt goes on. “The sleigh's not workin'. It was leakin' magic this morning. Now it's not respondin' to basic commands. Tried sayin' please and stuff, no luck. Ya need to use the new one, man.”

“That is not going to happen, Matthew,” Blaine says calmly, without losing his smile.

“Then ya need to fix it fast,” he checks some weird contraption around his wrist, something in between a watch and a thermostat. “It's T-31 hours, we don't have time for messin' around.”

“I'm going to the garage now,” Blaine nods. “Leo, can you bring Adam to Cody on your way to the Mainframe?”

“Sure, I'm already taking care of everything else in this factory, why not babysitting the human too?” Leo mumbles.

“I'll see you both at dinner!” Blaine says, walking away.  
“You have dinners?”

“Yeah, and even breakfasts and lunches! Also midnight snacks if we feel like it. Crazy, right? We are civilized people who need to eat to live, go figure.” Leo groans, before grabbing Adam by his sleeves and dragging him along. “Come, blondie, we're taking the shortcut.”

The shortcut turns out to be a slide going up and right and left and around, everywhere instead of down. Adam manages to scream for the entire ride – which is a feature in an on itself, because it takes a lot of breath to never stop screaming for at least two minutes – and he's not ashamed of that, once they get out of it and finally on the ground again, that thing was scary.

Leo, obviously, is perfectly fine. “You look green and on the verge of vomiting,” he comments mercilessly. “We don't do that here.”

“What? Vomiting?”

“Remember where you are. It's the Christmas Factory. Sugar, spice, and everything nice.”

Adam frowns as he regains some of his balance and they make their way along another hall that looks exactly the same as all the other ones to him. “And where exactly wild, mildly-abusive sex fits in all of that?”

“In _everything nice_ , of course,” Leo answers, coming to a halt in front of a tiny red door decorated with candy canes. “Cody's in here. I have to warn you. He's working, he might not be the same you remember.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Just keep that in mind,” Leo says cryptically before pushing the door open for him and then seemingly disappearing by melting in the shadows behind him.

Behind the red door there is the Candy department, where Adam has never been before. He has never visited any of the departments to be precise, so this is a double treat for him: to see what Cody does and to see how the Factory works in general. The department looks like a normal warehouse, except that the conveyor belts bringing goods from one place to another are going in all the impossible ways and, instead of robotic arms doing all the tedious and repetitive jobs, there are elves hanging from the ceiling on swing-like contraptions manually painting cardboard boxes or pouring chocolate on tiny cakes as they go.

On the ground, a little army of elves are making towers of boxes containing, Adam thinks, all the candies that are ready to be delivered tomorrow night. Among them a bigger army of gnomes and among them Cody as fierce as Adam has ever seen him.

Cody is usually a tiny mild thing with big blue eyes, who never raises his voice – unless it is to moan, which Adam doesn't want to think about right now – and usually wears clothes too big for him that make him look cute and soft, and all kind of inappropriate things. The Cody in front of his eyes right now is none of that.

Cody is wearing a red overall with diagonal white stripes, straps hanging from his sides, and a red beret with little cakes dangling from the top. All the cuteness emanating from his outfit is completely canceled out by the way he's giving orders left and right. He doesn't sound mean or angry as Leo does, but he's definitely determined. A boss who knows exactly how much he can ask from his employees and he expects to get it.

“Ten boxes per minute, people! It's not impossible, is it?” He says, while he ticks something on the list he's holding in his hand. “We worked in worse conditions than these! We had two machines down and a collapsed roof, we had snow coming in from every window, door and ventilation grids. We had trolls rampaging in here and breaking people's limbs and we still delivered a fantastic 22 billions between candies and cakes. So, ten boxes per minute are nothing for us with a perfectly functioning factory, central heating and no trolls. You, over there! Candy canes go on the left, mints on the right. It's not that hard. Left and right! It's basic training, am I right? No, no, no, no! Pandoro go to Italy, puddings go to England, pay attention, people! Same letter doesn't mean same fudging destination!” He ticks something else on his list, and then he stops an elf passing by. “How many do you have there? Twelve! Good job! See, guys, twelve boxes per minute, that is a nice thing!”

“You seem very busy. Should I come back?” Adam says, taking a few steps closer.

Cody spins on himself so fast that the little charms on his head are sent flying. “Adam!” He drops his list and the pen to the first empty-handed elf passing by and then he proceeds to throw himself into Adam's arms. “They really picked you up! I wasn't sure Leo was going to do it!”

Adam chuckles, hugging him and making him swirl a couple of times. “He didn't seem very happy about it. But then again, he didn't seem happy when I wasn't sure I could come either, so... He's very confusing.”

Cody gives him a quick kiss on the lips and then another, and then three more in rapid succession. “How was the trip? Was the sleigh stable? Did yo vomit?” He frowns, worriedly. “We don't do that here.”

“So I've been told. But no, the trip on the sleigh was fine. It was the shortcut Leo suggested that made me nauseous.”

Cody makes a face. “Leo is the worst!”

“No complain from me there.”

Cody grabs him by the hand and pulls him towards a small wooden door at the end of the warehouse. “Come, I know the perfect remedy for upset stomach,” he says. “I'm taking five, people! If I _feel_ you slacking, I'm sending Matt after you!”

Behind the wooden door there's a small office, except that it doesn't look like one. Apparently nothing in here looks exactly as it should. Instead of a desk and, maybe, some filing cabinets, there's a couch and a fireplace. The whole room feel cozy and warm and Christmas-y. Picture perfectly so.

“Why is everybody so scared of Matt?” Adam asks, sitting down on the couch.

“Have you seen him?” Cody waves his fingers in the air and two mugs of hot cocoa topped with cream and marshmallow appear in his hands. Probably not the perfect remedy for an upset stomach, but surely a welcome one.

“Yes, I know, he's intimidating. I'll give you that,” Adam nods, taking his mug and watching Cody with pure love as he kicks off his shoes and sits next to him, both legs prompted on the coffee table. “But he's still an elf, right?”

“We're not sure about that,” Cody looks into his mug pensively. 

“What else could he be?”

“There are hundreds of things he could be, actually, it's just unlikely that he is one of those,” Cody explains. “The Factory is a very protected place and even the elves' village, which is close by, is a very closed community. Nothing gets in or out without everybody knowing, you know, that kind of thing. We know his parents and they are elves. Not the nicest ones, honestly, but still elves. It doesn't seem like he could be nothing but an elf. Yet there are certain... things, you know, that don't ring quite right. Blaine is still investigating, you know, just to understand. Everybody loves Matt, so it's not like we are worried or anything.”  
“Well, at least he is nice,” Adam argues. “Not like Leo! He's sarcastic, mean, ill-tempered and I heard him speaking of murder with my own ears. Are you sure _he_ is an elf? Did you meet his parents?”

“As a matter of fact we didn't,” Cody licks his lips, tasting the chocolate there. “But he's, like, the perfect elf. You have this idea in your mind that elves are naturally good, cute and nice, always cheerful—“

“Like you.”

Cody smiles at him from behind his mug and the little twitch at the corner of his mouth gives Adam a nice little shiver. “But you have seen yourself what elves can do. We are not ever-happy creatures. We are moody, mischievous, easy to annoyance and very prone to strong emotions. There is a reason if we're physically unable to lie or kill. Nature always puts fail-safes on its creations. So, you want to know what an elf is, look at Leo.”

Adam has heard and seen Leo – and Blaine, but he doesn't want to go there right now – do horrible things to Cody, so he doesn't want to look at him again in any way, thank you very much. But he got the idea. There's something else that makes him curious though. “You said you don't know Leo's parents. Don't they ever come to visit? I wouldn't be surprised.”

Cody chuckles, refilling both their mugs with a swirl of his index finger. “None of our parents can come visit, Adam. Remember? No one who's not working at the factory can enter the premises. You've got a very very special dispensation, actually, hold onto it tight,” he bumps shoulders with him. “But in Leo's case, we never met his parents because we don't know who they are, not even him.”

“What do you mean?”

Cody closes his eyes for a moment, biting at his lower lip. “I'm not supposed to say. He doesn't like to talk about it, and he likes even less that people know.”

“I won't tell him if you don't.”

Adam can see in Cody's eyes the same spark that he knows is in his own. Having a secret between them, even if it's about Leo, is thrilling. “Alright, but you can never tell him that you know. You have to let him tell you, eventually. Until then, you know nothing.”

“I promise, I'll be silent as the grave.”

“Alright,” Cody sighs, folding his long legs underneath himself. “Blaine found him right outside the factory doors when he was a baby, no more than a few weeks old. He was all wrapped up in a blanket with no indications of where he might be coming from. There was elvish embroidery on it, but nothing specific that might indicate a family or a place, nothing. Blaine went to the village, but nobody knew nothing about a pregnant lady or a lost child. Besides, he had been clearly placed there to be found by him.”

“Is it usual for elves to abandon their children? Like, well, like humans do?”

“No, it is very unusual,” Cody says. “Blaine searched for his parents everywhere. He used every mean at his disposal and a great amount of magic, but there was no trace of them anywhere. So he ended up raising him personally inside the factory.”

“And they're together now?” Adam makes a face.

“Adam, don't make that face. Leo was never his son!” Cody makes a face too. “For a while, especially when he was too young to speak or do magic, Blaine thought he might not be an elf at all, and he even extended his search to include dwarfs and fauns, but as I said, the more he grew up the clearer it became that he was an elf.”

“I guess there are bad apples everywhere,” Adam shrugs. “Most elves don't abandon their children, but these two did.”

Cody shakes his head. “I don't know, it really sounds unlikely. Blaine has a theory.”

“Which is?”

“Remember how I told you that elves are really prone to strong emotions? It means that we're capable of great love and great anger, but also of great sadness, which can be fatal to us as our rage would be fatal for others if we could act upon it. Heartbreak is not just a word for us. Whenever we lose someone we love, our heart fractures, our magic starts to leak and darkness pours in until it replaces it completely and we... change.” 

Adam was ready for some juicy gossip, not to be lectured on the bleak nature of elves. This is suddenly so sad that he would like to change the subject, but he can't. Despite how bad it sounds, he still wants to know. “Change how?”

“We turn,” Cody says softly. “We become raging monsters driven crazy by our pain, with no conscience of who we were. You have heard us talking about the creatures we try to keep out of here, right?”

Adam looks at him in shock. “Wait, you mean trolls are just elves gone bad?”

“Not all of them, no. Trolls is more of an umbrella term, but some of them were elves once,” Cody says, and then he swallows. “That is why jealousy must be dealt with carefully and why we're so afraid of being heartbroken.”

Adam rests his back against the couch, his mug going cold in his hands. “And Blaine thinks Leo's parents became trolls?”

“He thinks one of them died and the other left Leo before he turned, so the baby would have been looked after,” Cody says.

“Boy, that's harsh.”

“It is,” Cody nods. They stay quiet for a moment and then Cody looks up, giving him a little apologetic smile. “I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you sad.”

“No, no, it's just that I sort of was expecting something embarrassing, not this,” Adam clears his throat. “I'm actually sorry for him.”

“It wasn't exactly how I had envisioned this conversation going either, no,” Cody sighs. “It had totally another vibe in my head and it didn't involve Leo in any way.”

Adam raises up his mug. “Another hot cocoa could cheer us up,” he proposes.

Cody smirks at him and he throws both mugs in the air, where they disappear. “I have another idea,” he says, crawling towards him. “It involves both hot and chocolate, I think you'll like it.”

Adam welcomes him clumsily but eagerly into his arms. He still has to get used to elves being flirty or straight out sexual, but this, he thinks, it'll take very little time to get used to.


End file.
